Infantile Colic, Is there an Association with the Source of Early Infant Nutrition?

Objective: To determine whether breastfeeding has an impact on colic development.

Design: A prospective cohort study of 436 mother-infant dyads who give birth at term to alive singleton whose birth weight was appropriate for gestational age. Self-administered questionnaires to mothers at 1 and 6 weeks postpartum, requested information on many infant and maternal factors, including source of infant nutrition (exclusively breast fed, complementary fed and exclusively formula fed). Cases of colic were identified by applying modified Wessel criteria or by interpreting the response to the Ames cry score.

Results: Of 536 mothers, 436 (81%) completed the study. Overall the prevalence of colic at 6 weeks of age was 23.6%. No association was seen between the source of infant nutrition and colic. Higher levels of maternal trait anxiety were associated with increased likelihood of colic after controlling for feeding method, maternal age, and parity although the difference failed to reach significance. No significant difference was seen between employed and unemployed mothers, but some difference was seen between both employed and unemployed mothers in one side and the student mothers in the other side, although the difference was statistically insignificant.

Conclusion: Breast feeding did not have a protective effect on the development of colic. Although colic was statistically associated with some variables, including pre-existing maternal anxiety and student mothers, some of colic’s etiology remains unexplained despite the numerous studies done in this field.